I'm (an old) Canadian. To me, 'center' means the middle of something (as in center of the universe) and 'centre' is some sort of building/establishment/business (as in Learning Centre) where people congregate in some way, shape or form. So (in MY world) I can't agree with Salami that either/or is "okay", as (to me - YMMV) it depends on context. But I do agree with the consistency part of his statement : )

The cool part of this entire thread is that it just shows how forgiving/aware of global differences our wonderful editors are!

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Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense- Gertrude Stein

I'm also an (old) Canadian, and to me "centre" means both of those things (as does "center" south of the border - the US/Canada border, that is). I may also have been influenced by my English mother, of course.

The mall I walk at twice weekly is named "Stonebriar Centre," and it is in Frisco, Texas (great place to walk at by the way). My grandmother always said if a place had a British spelling that "it would cost you more" to shop there than an American-spelled place.

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The way to get things done is NOT to mind who gets the credit for doing them. --Benjamin JowettNo one can make you feel inferior without your consent. --Eleanor RooseveltThe day we lose our will to fight is the day we lose our freedom.

Using a sentence such as, "Where is the centre of the universe?" for the use of the word looks odd, but I can handle it spelled like that about any other way...same with "theater/theatre."

Is that how you'd do it in Australia and Canada?

Edited by dg_dave (Sat May 04 201308:26 PM)

_________________________
The way to get things done is NOT to mind who gets the credit for doing them. --Benjamin JowettNo one can make you feel inferior without your consent. --Eleanor RooseveltThe day we lose our will to fight is the day we lose our freedom.

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The way to get things done is NOT to mind who gets the credit for doing them. --Benjamin JowettNo one can make you feel inferior without your consent. --Eleanor RooseveltThe day we lose our will to fight is the day we lose our freedom.

Using a sentence such as, "Where is the centre of the universe?" for the use of the word looks odd, but I can handle it spelled like that about any other way...same with "theater/theatre."

Is that how you'd do it in Australia and Canada?

Australian theatre is the centre of the universe. Yep, that looks completely correct to me.

We spell in the English fashion for the most part. I do know two people in their early 40s was taught to spell words such as 'memorise' with a 'z' which surprises me, esp as they grew up in different cities. In the Aussie medical world we use the English version of words e.g. edema and esophagus are spelt with an 'o' at the beginning.

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A platypus lays eggs and produces milk - it can make its own custard

More seriously, after a couple of decades, I now spell the word as sulfur not sulphur after a ruling on terminology from the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (who set the rules for publishing in the chemistry literature). However, aluminium can legitimately be spelled with or without that last 'i' - it depends on the preference of the journal in which you wish to publish.

I wonder about aluminum too when all the other other elements with similar endings have the 'i'. Elements from helium, lithium, beryllium, and all the way to bohrium, hassium and meitnerium all have the last 'i'. Just imagine trying to say sodum chloride with a straight face. Poor aluminum. It must feel short-changed. We should start a petition to make the last 'i' in aluminium put back in internationally!

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A platypus lays eggs and produces milk - it can make its own custard

I'm another Western Canadian like Jakeroo, and while I use "Centre" for something like "Banff Centre for the Fine Arts", I tend to use "center" for "place the maraschino cherry in the center of the pineapple ring".

I have often wondered why the Americans dropped the last i in aluminium

They didn't. We added it. It was originally called Aluminum but we changed it into Aluminium because it didn't quite sound right to us (not Latin enough) and to make it fit in with other "ium" elements such as Lithium, Magnesium etc.

Growing up in the United States I find all those extra "u"s and "a"s to be superfluous (the words are all spoken the same, so why not spell them more simply?). Just more letters to slow things down. Theater/Theatre and Gray/Grey I don't really have a problem with because they're not extra letters, just different or reorganized. Despite my regular use of American spelling, I do use the British "theatre," and I use "gray" and "grey" interchangeably.